It’s rare, but every now and then network television declares a holiday from its typical dumbed-down fare and gives viewers what they didn’t even realize they craved: a showcase of Western civilization. Right now, there’s a prime-time show on NBC that explores a tradition stretching back to ancient Greece. I wouldn’t call it “historical,” exactly. After all, we’re not talking about the History Channel.
On the other hand, if Socrates were to show up in your family room, he’d have no trouble understanding the program. In fact, he’d probably enjoy it. I can just picture the father of Western thought parked in front of the TV, brushing popcorn crumbs from his beard.
I’m talking here, of course, about “The Sing-Off,” NBC’s a capella vocal talent show.
“A capella” is Italian for “in the style of the chapel,” meaning music that is performed without instrumental accompaniment. Instruments have not always been welcome in places of worship, but human voices have been at the heart of worship from the beginning. Music-making without instruments reached a very high form of development in the cathedrals and churches of the early European Renaissance. The cultivation of skilled musicians who could perform ever-more complicated musical compositions led to the birth of some of the most glorious music ever written.
Serious singers will instantly recognize names like Tallis, Allegri, and Victoria, composers who mastered techniques of staggering and overlapping voices from different vocal registers to create lush and sinuous harmonies.
This kind of singing demands the highest level of musicianship. There’s nothing to hide behind, no pounding drums or amplified guitars. And this is what separates the competitors in “The Sing-Off” from the so-called “idols” who compete in Fox’s juggernaut vocal competition. The initial audition on “American Idol” is performed a capella, but after that minute or two of unadorned singing, and perhaps one more a capella round tossed in for variety, contestants are expected to front a band, just like the pop stars they hope one day to become.
“The Sing-Off” is certainly derivative of “American Idol.” There are many familiar elements: a search for new talent; a live audience, whose responses are shaped by a panel of “industry experts;” a dopey master of ceremonies. Actually, Nick Lachey, the MC of “The Sing-Off,” is the only truly tedious aspect of the show, a stuffed shirt whose own career – member of a soulless corporate boy band; husband of an even more popular and less talented pop singer; star of a revolting reality program showcasing his own ten-minute marriage – is a pretty accurate picture of the state of the so-called “music business.”
But setting aside the tepid and mealymouthed host, what’s exciting about “The Sing-Off” is that it’s a talent show with – wait for it – actual talent! The producers have done a good job of finding a capella performers from many different musical backgrounds and walks of life, everything from Yale’s elite Whiffenpoof singers – undergraduates with a twinkle of “we’re going to own you someday” in their eye – to bona fide Motown R&B singers, men who are – gasp! – over thirty, and somehow still capable of making great music.
Over thirty? What am I saying? Some of them are over sixty!
There are a few unfortunate reminders that this is modern American televised entertainment, the constant interruption for commercials being the most obvious. A more subtle, and far more invidious, influence is the overtone of class warfare: “Look at those Whiffenpoofs in their white tie and tails, with their arrogant ivy-league concert style! And in the other corner, those pious young black men from the deep South in their modest sportswear, whose pure, honey-throated style comes from singing spirituals!”
But for the most part, the viewer of “The Sing-Off” is treated to vocal performances of a very high caliber, in genres ranging from pop and R&B to jazz and hip-hop.
I wasn’t kidding when I said that Socrates would understand the show. As early as the seventh century, B.C., ancient Greeks gathered for an annual competition of dithyrambs, hymns sung and danced in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility.
Wine and fertility. Two great subjects of popular song to this very day.
“The Sing-Off” is worth watching. Plus, viewers vote for the winner. So, for the price of admission, you get to participate in two ancient legacies: talent shows and democracy.
This column was published in the Perry Co Times on 16 December 2010
For more information, please contact Mr. Olshan at writing@matthewolshan.com
